Division of assets between you and your spouse is a crucial and often complicated aspect in divorce. It is helpful to have a basic understanding of how this portion of the divorce works so you can better ensure you get your fair share of assets after you finalize the divorce.
In high-asset divorce cases, determining who gets what can be challenging, which is why it is important to know the difference between marital property and non-marital property.
Marital property
Marital property generally refers to anything that you and your spouse acquired while you were married. Florida law notes these properties and assets are subject to equal division. This usually includes real estate, including your family home and other commercial or residential properties purchased as an investment. It also includes financial assets such as bank accounts, securities, pensions and retirement accounts as well as motor vehicles, furniture, appliances and artwork purchased jointly.
Non-marital property
Do you have property or valuable collectibles that you purchased prior to getting married that you wish to remain yours? Or maybe you inherited assets. Do you have gifts from a third party that you received during your marriage? You do not need to worry about sharing these to your spouse, as these are non-marital or separate property.
Keep in mind though that non-marital property loses that status if it commingles with marital property or vice versa. For example, placing your inheritance in a joint bank account with your spouse makes it marital property. Similarly, you can exclude specific assets from marital property through a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement to better ensure that they remain solely yours.
Distributing assets in a divorce can be tricky, but clearly defining the type of property helps to better ensure you and your spouse get what is rightfully yours. This post provides a start to the conversation. Those with complicated assets are wise to seek legal counsel to better ensure proper and fair division of during the divorce.